{"id":15299,"date":"2014-09-02T17:31:42","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T16:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=15299"},"modified":"2014-09-05T14:40:06","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T13:40:06","slug":"pride-movie-dramatises-the-wonderful-solidarity-between-welsh-miners-and-gay-activists-during-the-1980s-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/pride-movie-dramatises-the-wonderful-solidarity-between-welsh-miners-and-gay-activists-during-the-1980s-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride movie dramatises the wonderful solidarity between Welsh miners and gay activists during the 1980s strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pride<\/p>\n

Top of my list of films to see is ‘Pride,’ a heart-warming film based on the\u00a0remarkable story of Welsh mining community\u00a0miners uniting with gay activists\u00a0to fight Thatcher during the Miners’ Stike of 1984\/5.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Pride<\/p>\n

LGSM members and miners dancing at the welfare hall in the Dulais Valley, Wales [—<\/a>]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In an era famed for intolerance, homophobia and union-bashing,\u00a0the film\u00a0tells how\u00a0a gay and lesbian group from London known as \u00a0LGSM\u00a0(Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) became firm friends and supporters of the embattled mining community in the\u00a0remote Dulais Valley in south Wales.<\/p>\n

\"Pride<\/p>\n

Through their fundraising efforts, the LGSM ended up donating\u00a0more money (\u00a311,000 by December 1984) to the\u00a0miners’\u00a0cause than any other fundraiser in the UK. They also donated a minibus emblazoned with the LGSM \u00a0logo, which must have caused a stir driving around the small villages of south Wales.<\/p>\n

During the strike, miners and their supporters were invited to a fundraising event in a gay club in London. The speech\u00a0made by one of the miners,\u00a0Dai Donovan, is a thing of beauty:<\/p>\n

You have worn our badge, Coal Not Dole, and you know what harassment means, as we do. Now we will pin your badge on us, we will support you. It won’t change overnight, but now 140,000 miners know that there are other causes and other problems. We know about blacks and gays and nuclear disarmament and we will never be the same.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A ‘romcom’ film starring Bill Nighy,\u00a0Imelda Staunton and Dominic West has just been released and has already picked up rave reviews<\/a>.\u00a0Here’s the trailer:<\/p>\n